Sleeping In
by AvengersIsLife
Summary: Natasha doesn't wake bright and early as she usually does. Clint has been gone on a mission, and when Natasha doesn't come out of her room in the morning, Tony gets curious.
1. Not Awake

"I'm sure she is just sleeping," suggested Bruce Banner. "Romanoff, sleep in until nine o'clock? Not likely," Tony Stark said as he shook his head. "Maybe she's sick?" "No, last night when I came up from a midnight training session, she was up watching Barton's latest mission status. She was still awake when I turned off the lights at four," added Steve. Tony stared, open mouthed, at the amount of energy Steve put into his training sessions.

Thor, Bruce, Tony, and Steve all sat at a round table in Avengers Tower, discussing the strange behavior of their fellow teammate, Natasha Romanoff. She had been acting off ever since her partner and best friend, Clint Barton, left for a highly dangerous mission, and hadn't been seen, or heard from, for a month. "Maybe we should go check on her," suggested Tony, sounding far from worried, with a malicious glint sparkling in his eyes. "Stark, leave her alone. Besides, if you walked in while she is sleeping, you won't come out alive; the only person who has been in the same room as her while she is asleep and not been stabbed is Agent Barton, and I'm not sure I'm in the mood to drive you to the hospital," glared Bruce. Tony laughed, then shrugged. "I'll put on my suit, and then check on her," he announced, standing up and exiting the room. "You want to wait until we hear him scream like a girl before we go pry Romanoff off of him?" Bruce and Thor agreed with Steve's idea.

Tony put on one of his lighter suits that allowed him more agility and made him quieter; a stealth suit is what Pepper called it; a genius idea is what Tony called it. Tony crept to Natasha's room, where he found her door closed. Praying it wasn't locked, he slowly reached for the handle, turning it gently so he didn't make any noise. He braced against the door, pushing it open as quietly as he could. As his eyes adjusted to the gloom of Natasha's room, a large grin spread across his face. Natasha was wrapped safely in the arms of Clint Barton, who had bruises and gashes on every patch of bare skin Tony could see. A few of the major wounds had been cleaned up and covered in sterling white gauze; Tony automatically assumed it had been done by Natasha; Clint didn't trust doctors. Natasha's long, dark red hair was pulled up into a ponytail, and she wore Clint's favorite sweatshirt. They were both sleeping peacefully, and despite what he really wanted to do (which was wake them up and terrorize them) he stalked back out of the room, shutting the door quietly behind him. He waited until he was out of earshot of Natasha's room, before screaming aloud and running to tell the rest of the team.


	2. The Return of the Hawk

Inside the room, Clint and Natasha roared with laughter; they had woken up when they felt Tony's presence in the room, and they were going to say something, but he had rushed out before they had the chance. But what could they say, really? Tony would never believe their excuses. "We've been found out!" cried Natasha, tears of laughter forming in the creases of her eyes. Clint shrugged, knowing good and well that they would be tormented ruthlessly once they left the room. He pulled Natasha back down onto the bed so they could continue to rest; Clint hadn't slept for three days, and Natasha had slept maybe a combination of ten hours in the past week.

For now, he wasn't going to worry about Tony; he was the most tired he had ever been in his whole life. His dreams were usually riddled with nightmares, but if Natasha was close, they were almost nonexistent, so the moment her returned (at about 6:00 that morning) he crept to her room, where he found her trying her best to stay awake. How she knew he was coming back he didn't know, but without saying a word, she scrambled up, grabbed his arm, and crawled into the bed, snuggling up against him. Natasha took a deep breath, then settled back into his arms.

Even though he nodded off again, Natasha stayed awake, anticipating Tony to return with the others. Sure enough, in about 15 minutes, she heard them in the hall, trying, and failing, to be remotely quiet. She slipped silently off the bed, then crept to the door, hiding behind the couch. When Tony opened the door, Natasha pounced, landing on top of the billionaire; the three others yelled, then ran for cover back down the hall. Natasha held Tony down by his throat, and whispered "If you disturb me and Barton _one _more time, I will knock you unconscious, or worse. Leave. Now." Without a backwards glance, Tony scrambled up, and rushed out of the open door. Smiling, Natasha shut and locked the door, then climbed back into the bed. "Good girl," Clint mumbled, before falling back to sleep, his arm draped securely around Natasha's shoulders.


End file.
